A federal grand jury yesterday charged two Iranian men with developing and deploying the SamSam ransomware that has attacked hospitals and other computers in the past few years, the Department of Justice announced. “These defendants allegedly used ransomware to infect the computer networks of municipalities, hospitals and other key public institutions, locking out the computer owners, and then demanded millions of dollars in payments from them,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski. John Riggi, AHA senior advisor for cybersecurity and risk and former FBI cyber executive added, “Unfortunately this is a good example of U.S. hospitals being targeted by sophisticated cyber actors operating from the relative safe haven of a hostile nation state. This has allowed them to shield their hacking activities and diminish their chances of apprehension by U.S. law enforcement. Hospitals are challenged every day with significant foreign-based cyber-attacks.” For more information, see the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation Private Industry Notification.  
 

Related News Articles

Headline
Microsoft Sept. 16 announced it had disrupted a growing phishing service that had targeted at least 20 U.S. health care organizations. The company said it used…
Headline
The FBI Sept. 12 released an alert warning of malicious activities by cybercriminal groups UNC6040 and UNC6395, which the agency said are responsible for an…
Headline
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency and international agencies Sept. 3 released joint guidance outlining a “software…
Headline
Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors are maliciously targeting networks globally, including telecommunications, government and others, according to a joint…
Headline
The FBI Aug. 20 released an advisory warning of malicious activity by Russian cyber actors targeting end-of-life devices running an unpatched vulnerability in…
Headline
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, National Security Agency, FBI and international agencies Aug. 13…